Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee
Introduction
Bradley International Airport
Over the past few years, much attention has been given to Bradley International Airport's potential role in promoting economic development in the region. Several consultant studies have been issued examining Bradley's operations and governance, as well as its economic importance to the region. In the spring of 2000, the Governor's Council on Economic Competitiveness and Technology, and its sub-groups, developed several options regarding changes to the governance structure of Bradley. Those options were presented to the governor and legislative leaders but too late for any legislative action during the 2000 session.
At that time, the program review committee voted to evaluate Bradley and in June approved a scope of study. The purpose of the study is to determine if Bradley International Airport is optimally meeting the economic development objectives of Connecticut, and if not, identify the reasons why and make recommendations for realizing its economic development potential.
The scope of the study required an examination of Bradley's: governance; planning procedures and implementation; competitiveness; and management and operations. This report makes a series of findings and recommendation in these areas. Overall, the committee finds Bradley has no business development focus, and views itself as a transportation facility. The committee concludes Bradley is run like any other state agency, despite being established as enterprise fund, dependent on its own revenue, not taxes, to operate. Bradley is hampered by a number of external and internal constraints that ensure it follows process and procedures rather than targeting results.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) delayed some of the larger projects called for in the 1993 master plan, now placing the new terminal three years behind the original 1999 completion date called for in the master plan. The delays will cost airport users more as construction and borrowing expenses have increased, and prolonged the time that Bradley travelers must use outdated and crowded facilities.
Bradley's management and operations are heavily focused on airside operations, thus it needs staff and resources to build the business development, marketing, and customer relations side of the airport. The business development focus of the airport must attain equal stature to safety, security, and airside maintenance in order to grow.
The program review committee concludes bureaucratic constraints must also be removed for the airport to move quickly and seize opportunities to flourish, and makes a number of recommendations to exempt Bradley from compliance with DOT and state policies and procedures.
Committee members believe Bradley also needs outside direction that can come only from business leaders, and therefore recommend a nine-member board of directors, with authority over key personnel, financing, planning, and operations. Thus, the committee recommendations take a three-pronged approach:
Methods. Information for this report was obtained from a number of sources including interviews with: DOT staff; officials at the State Treasurer's Office; Federal Aviation Administration New England Region staff; and a number of members of the Executive Council, the Bradley Airport Commission, the Bradley Development League, and representatives of the Air Transport Association. Data on Bradley and other airports were gathered from individual airport web sites as well as phone discussions with management at all selected airports, and information obtained from U.S. DOT databases. The committee also reviewed all recent consultant reports issued on Bradley, as well as general literature and Internet materials produced by trade associations in the aviation industry. The committee also held a public hearing October 12, 2000, on the Bradley study, and sponsored a forum October 31, 2000, on airport management with invited presenters.
Report organization. The report contains four chapters. Chapter I provides background on airports and economic development potential, and outlines why Bradley has been the focus of attention recently. The chapter also profiles Bradley's operations. Chapter II discusses Bradley's mission and vision, and their planning and implementation. The third chapter describes Bradley's management and operations and analyzes its competitive aspects compared with selected other airports. The chapter outlines the external and internal constraints hampering Bradley, and makes recommendations to improve the airport's business development approach. Chapter IV outlines the options the committee considered to change the governance structure at Bradley. The chapter proposes a strong Board of Directors, outlines its powers and duties, and recommends a Bradley Airport Community Commission to address matters of concern to communities surrounding the airport.
Agency response. It is the policy of the Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee to provide agencies subject to a study with an opportunity to review and comment on the recommendations prior to publication of the final report. The response from the Department of Transportation is contained in Appendix A.